EVALUATION OF OFF-STREET PARKING IN CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT OF SOUTHWESTERN NIGERIA - A CASE STUDY OF AKURE

The policies and management practices regarding parking have been known to directly affect land use, air quality, traffic congestion, travel behavior, and economic development. Nevertheless, having an effective system for managing off-street park remains a major challenge in large central cities of the Southwestern parts of Nigeria. In this study, parking surveys were conducted to evaluate the efficiencies of using both close and open-ended questionnaires. Three different parking areas, namely CBP1, CBP2, and CBP3 and four road areas, namely CBR1, CBR2, CBR3 and CBR4, were utilize for five main parts of the Central Business District in Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria. The data collected were analysed to determine demand and supply of parking facilities with a view to formulate strategies for better and efficient management of off-street parking in the study area, and their efficiency were obtained as 42.5 %, 69.52 %, 74.88 % and 26.66 %, respectively. The study shows that CBP1 operated below the maximum capacity at parking index lower than 50%, while CBP2 and CBP3 operated above the maximum capacity when compared with Policy 7 of the Parking Space Requirements in Parking Code Guidance 2012 of San Francisco Department of Transportation. The study shows that there is inadequate parking signage and deficiency in enforced by the City?s Management; and thus, effective communication, parking enforcement, operational efficiency and provision of parking signage should be adopted in the study area.